We are all Mediterranean

While the Heads of State and Government of the European Union were gathering in Brussels for an extraordinary meeting of the European Council on immigration, the CPMR Intermediterranean Commission addressed an Open Letter to the European Council and Parliament to reiterate their strong commitment and solidarity towards the citizens of the Mediterranean.

This pledge has been signed by both Michel Vauzelle President of the CPMR Intermediterranean Commission and the Region of Provence-Alps-Cote d’Azur and Rosario Crocetta, President of Sicily and Chair of the dedicated CPMR Task Force on Migration. It follows on from their emergency meeting to address this humanitarian disaster held on 22 April 2015 in Palermo.

“It is shameful to leave Italy, Malta, Greece or Turkey, and regions like Sicily in particular, to manage a migratory crisis that affects, beyond the Mediterranean, the whole of Europe, with mainly their own resources”. Furthermore, “it is essential to bear in mind that stabilising countries such as Libya is urgent, but that improvised military interventions in a framework in which international legality is questionable, would only worsen the situation”, said the letter, addressed to the Member States and to the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz.

The CPMR Intermediterranean Commission will organise a Conference in Sicily in the coming weeks to strengthen regional cooperation on issues of urgency, reception and integration, and will launch a campaign to raise awareness, “WE ARE ALL MEDITERRANEAN.” Such a campaign will highlight the values of solidarity, cooperation, integration, and dialogue, as well as the fight against racism, xenophobia and terrorism.

Following this Conference, a delegation of CPMR Presidents will visit the European Parliament and meet President Martin Schulz in order to convey this message to him and to ask for his support in the campaign. A European framework for action and additional meaningful resources should be mobilised to effectively address such a crisis.